Congratulation to the Vietnamese International Film Festival (VIFF): Into View!

Please see the below schedule and come to support Vietnamese film makers, stars, VIFF, Vietnamese American Arts & Letters Association (VAALA), and Vietnamese Language and Culture of UCLA (VNLC).

On a related matter, check out the article from OC Register by Deepa Bharath. As Mưa Hồng owner pleaded guilty to video piracy, we plead you to buy “only original” DVDs. It is the only way that you can help to support the hard works of the Vietnamese producers and considerably, to preserve Vietnamese art and culture.

After months of preparation, VAC are ready to organize several upcoming art and cultural projects, please stay tune for more details and help VAC to achieve our missions.

Peace and Love,

Michelle Phương Thảo

I. Art, Culture, Charity

1. Vietnamese International Film Festival (VIFF): Into View

April 2-5 & 9-12, 2009

Press Release:

4th Biennial Vietnamese International Film Festival takes place from April 2 - 12, 2009, features over sixty films by Vietnamese filmmakers from across the globe

Westminster, CA- A war-torn family finds redemption through rugby. The legend of Cuoi, the boy in the moon, is told through animation. Hurricane Katrina Vietnamese American victims rebuild their town and lives. These are some of the stories featured in the 4th Biennial Vietnamese International Film Festival (VIFF), an eight day showcase of Vietnamese and Vietnamese Diasporic filmmakers which takes place from April 2 - 12, 2009.

ViFF’s theme this year is Into View, fitting for this diverse, global gathering of over sixty short and feature films by emerging and established filmmakers from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, and the United States.

As in year’s past, ViFF’s will be spread throughout Southern California with screenings at UC Irvine’s Film and Video Center and Edwards University Cinema 6, both in Irvine, CA and at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA. New for this year, ViFF is proud to partner with the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana, CA, which will host two special, opened-to-all but admission-free days for high school students and senior citizens.

VIFF is presented by the two non-profit organizations Vietnamese American Arts and Letters Association (VAALA) and UCLA’s Vietnamese Language and Culture (VNLC).VIFF was established in October 2003 to showcase Vietnamese and Vietnamese Diasporic filmmakers. ViFF’s mission is to support, celebrate, and project a diversity of visions and voices from filmmakers of Vietnamese descent and films by, for, and about the Vietnamese people and culture.

Access VN-USA is an on-location TV show featuring successful businesses and entrepreneurs in all industries both in Vietnam and USA. In order to improve trades between Vietnam and USA, the show reserves special interests with businesses and entrepreneurs who engage or would like to engage in trading (import/export) their products and services between Vietnam and USA.

Contact Saigon Tivi if you would like to share your business or experience on Access VN-USA.

Access VN-USA California Wine & San Antonio Winery will debut on Saigon TV this weekend featuring California Wine and an exclusive interview with Steve Riboli, President of San Antonio Winery and MaiKhanh Tran, Vice President of Rượu Vang Mỹ (exclusive exporter of San Antonio Winery and other famous brand of American Winery to Vietnam).

2nd City Council Art Gallery + Performance Space announces a Call for Artists for Tesserae: The Art of Mosaic. Mosaic is an ancient medium and “Tesserae” are the small pieces used to make up a mosaic the tiny bits that create the larger picture. We invite mosaic artists from around the country to share their work as a window into this popular art form.

The exhibition will be a dialogue between artists working in all media of mosaic: tile, glass, broken crockery, ceramic, polymer clay, mixed-media, and more. The exhibition itself becomes the Mosaic. It reflects the diverse ways in which this exciting medium is used for artistic expression, creativity and growth.

This juried exhibition is open to all mosaic artists (domestic and international)

MOSAIC media only. No video and film accepted. Photos of mosaic installations, murals, or architectural applications are not accepted for this exhibition.

JUROR: Ms. Sizemore has worked as a professional artist for nearly 30 years, and has been working in mosaics since 1995. Along with co-founding The San Francisco Mosaic Studio, She has authored more than 20 articles, and has been featured in numerous books and magazines, including Mosaic Techniques and Traditions by Sonia King, and Mosaic Art and Style by JoAnn Locktov. Her travel book, A Guide to Mosaic Sites: San Francisco, along with her educational website www.sfmosaic.com Lillian has created and consulted on numerous site-specific mosaic murals, façades, and private commissions not only in the Bay Area, but internationally, as well.

For the past three years she has worked in conjunction with two of Getty Villa's exhibitions, Stories in Stone: Conserving Mosaics of Roman Africa, and Jim Dine: Poet Singing, conducting demonstrations and educational workshops for the exhibits. She is a frequent visiting artist and instructor at the Institute of Mosaic Art, in Oakland, California. Currently, her workshop, "Mosaics from the Mind's Eye: Connecting to Your Creative Power", explores one's secret inner biography by combining meditation with mosaic-making and the mandala form. She is a graduate of Indiana University with double degrees in Italian and Fine Arts Printmaking and has several new projects in the works.

Ms. Sizemore has reviewed and curated many exhibitions, and is excited to be participating in 2nd City Council’s first Mosaic Exhibition.

Nature is miraculously beautiful and deserves to be loved. We owe a responsibility to our future generations: that is, to protect and to preserve nature. Viet Art Center is calling all photographers around the world to join us to celebrate “The Beauty of Nature” of the two countries: USA and Vietnam. Let’s bring awareness to the earth-friendly “green living” for the benefit of nature, ourselves, and our posterity.

Entries must be submitted as a digital file for judging. Specifications: Minimum 5” x 7” at 300DPI, RGB JPEG. Submitted CDs will not be returned. If your photo is chosen for exhibition and publication you will be required to submit a print no smaller than 8” x 10” and no larger than 11” x 14” matted, framed and ready to hang in a frame no larger than 18” x 22” in outside dimensions and a high resolution digital file for printing. If you wish to have your print returned you must enclose return shipping fees along with a return shipping label. Viet Art Center is not responsible for the loss of or damage to any entry and will not acknowledge receipt of entries. Submission of entries acknowledges the right of VAC to use them for promotion, exhibition, electronic dissemination, and publication in Saigon TV shows (Hoa Gấm Việt – The Việt Quintessence and Access USA & Vietnam), and VAC Online.

Professor Howard Lavick was born in Oakland, California in 1946, but was raised in Northern Minnesota where his parents reside. He received a B.A. in Photojournalism from the University of Minnesota in 1968. Howard served two years in the Army from 1969-71, which included one year at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona and one year in South Vietnam where he was assigned as a combat photographer with the 25th Infantry Division. Part of his tour of duty in Vietnam included six months as a photojournalist for Pacific Stars and Stripes which enabled him to travel through much of the country, reporting combat stories in the field and covering political and cultural events in Saigon. Through this, he was able to see and experience many diverse aspects of Vietnamese life.

Upon his return to Minnesota, Howard worked as an advertising photographer in Minneapolis. He also studied documentary film making as an extension of his photojournalism background. After freelance work one summer on an independent feature film made in Minneapolis, Howard was married and moved to Los Angeles, California where he pursued an MFA degree in Film production from the USC School of Cinema. He completed his Graduate studies in 1977 and later worked in documentary films and as a producer/director for pay-cable television. Howard began teaching in the Film School at Loyola Marymount University in 1984 and over the next 25 years, he was promoted from a professor to Dept. Chair, School Director and Acting Dean, while the film program grew from 250 students to a School of Film and Television with more than 700 students.

In the fall of 2001, Howard was teaching in Loyola Marymount’s study abroad program in Bonn, Germany. There he met Michaela Mauder who later became his wife when they were married in Los Angeles in 2005. They both enjoy teaching, traveling, photography, cooking and gardening as well as raising their two cats.

In 2008, several of Howard’s Vietnam photographs were included in the Viet Art Center “Memories of Vietnam 1955-1975” exhibit in Garden Grove, California, where his picture of a shy young Vietnamese couple was selected for top honors.

Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, I attended St. Mary’s high school in Berkeley, California, graduating in 1964. Initially, college was a struggle, so I joined the Army in August of 1966.

Trained as a Military Policeman, I arrived in Vietnam a year later, serving my entire tour in the Central Highlands. Quite unexpectedly, I developed a close, personal relationship with a group of Montagnard children from the Bahnar tribe, which has, despite time and distance, lasted to this day. They are the reason I have returned to Vietnam so many times since 1992, and will always be an integral part of my life.

Returning to the States in August, 1968, I eventually graduated from Sacramento State College with a degree in English. After a 26-year career with The Coca-Cola Company as a business analyst, I accepted an early retirement in 2003. Then, in 2004, I took a position with Coors Brewing Company, but retired again in 2008.

As of this writing, I have a son in high school here in Orange County, a daughter attending college in the Bay Area, and a step daughter at Texas Tech. My wife of 14 years owns a consulting business, providing expertise to a number of consumer goods companies.

For most Vietnam veterans, their war experience is locked away in a past they wish to forget, a distant memory. Then, there are men like me who wholeheartedly embrace the country and its people. For us, Vietnam is “alive,” a vital part of our daily lives, and staying connected in a positive way gives us a great deal of satisfaction. We are discovering avenues for reaching back to help the less fortunate and to exercise the better angels of our nature.

Aside from providing assistance to our extended family in the Pleiku area, I also serve on the board of Friends of Vinh Son (FVSO), a non-profit organization that is meeting the needs of 4 orphanages in Kontum. We’re providing for basic needs, education, health care and so much more.

My wife and son have adopted this passion for Vietnam as well, having traveled there with me on a number of occasions. Hopefully there are more visits in our future. Whether it’s spending time with our Montagnard friends in Pleiku, or interacting with the orphans at Vinh Son, we always come home enriched.

Note from VAC: In 2008, several of Michael’s Vietnam photographs were included in the Viet Art Center “Memories of Vietnam 1955-1975” exhibit in Garden Grove, California, where a picture that he co-submitted, of a young Vietnamese montagnard boy, taken by Paul Erickson, was selected for one of the top honors.

Professor Richard Turner completed his high school education in Saigon, Viet Nam. He studied Chinese painting in Taipei, Taiwan as an undergraduate. He studied Indian miniature painting and classical music in Jaipur India while on a Fulbright scholarship. His studio work references his experiences in India, Vietnam and Taiwan as well as his interest in film, architecture and gardens. His work has been exhibited in west coast galleries and, in 2005, in Bangkok, Thailand. In 2008 his installation Contempt Mandala was shown in Grand Central Art Center in Santa Ana.

Working as a public artist since 1980, Richard has designed pieces for police stations, public parks, transit stations, community centers, and wastewater treatment plants. His work can be seen in Houston, Oakland, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, Seattle, and Portland, where his design team’s art for light rail stations earned a Presidential Award in 2001. He developed an art master plan for the city of San Pedro in 2005 and recently completed artwork for a wetlands park in Chino. He is currently involved in projects in Pasadena and Long Beach. Locally, he has designed pieces for the Arrowhead Pond, the Anaheim Community Center, the Stadium Gateway building and the Fullerton and Long Beach campuses of California State University. On Chapman’s campus he designed Liberty Plaza, a landscape setting for a section of the Berlin Wall. His sculpture, Equinox Sunrise, of anodized aluminum is a prominent feature of the main worship space of the Wallace All Faiths Chapel completed in 2004. Richard teaches design and courses on traditional and contemporary Asian art. He directs the Guggenheim Gallery and is currently co-chair of the Department of Art.

In 2008

For application and more information regarding the contest and exhibition please email vietartcenter@aol.com. For individuals and organizations who would like to be title sponsor for “The Beauty of Nature: USA & Vietnam”, please contact us. All net proceeds will be contributed to VAC’s art and cultural activities. All sponsoring individuals and organizations will be invited to appear on Saigon TV show: Access USA&Vietnam.

6. VAC: Performance Art School at St. Anselm Episcopal Church

St. Anselm Episcopal Church

13091 Galway Street

Garden Grove, CA 92844

Tel: 714-658-6650

Under the sponsorship of St. Anselm Episcopal Church, VAC is able to establish VAC’s Performance Art School to the community. All lessons are three-month sessions starting April 1-June 30, please contact us for bio of instructors and more details regarding fees and registrations

Some good news for those who lost some wages, try the Vietnamese delights and lost …some weights as well. If you still have doubt about the deliciousness of our food, make sure to watch Viet Art’s most recent show: The Country Delights (Miếng Ngon Dân Dã), which will air on Saigon TV this weekend (Saturday & Sunday evenings). The show is all about …good food.